Description

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Equine therapy has long been a staple activity for special-needs children and adults, and its physical benefits are evident. In Riding Home, Horse Nation's must read book of 2016, Tim Hayes uses his own vast experience working with horses combined with scientific research to show us how and why horses and our relationships with them are also able to heal our emotional and psychological wounds.

Riding Home provides riveting examples of how equine therapy has become one of today’s most effective, cutting-edge methods of healing where so often traditional therapy and prescription drugs have failed.

The natural ability of a horse to accept, without judgment, a soldier with PTSD who has seen or done horrific things, and by so doing, express compassion and benevolent acknowledgment—often preventing suicide—is extraordinary.

At-risk youth in equine programs find that horses don’t judge or criticize them, allowing them to express painful feelings for the first time.

This is a book for horse lovers, but also for parents of teenagers who might be slipping into violence, crime, and drugs. It is a book for loved ones of soldiers returning from the war, a book for families of autistic children, and truly anyone who needs help or has lost their way. It is accessible, moving, and shows us a way to approach healing from an entirely new perspective.

Horses help us discover hidden parts of ourselves, whether we’re seven or seventy. They model relationships that demonstrate acceptance, kindness, honesty, tolerance, patience, justice, compassion, and forgiveness. This amazing power of horses to heal is accessible to anyone.

About the Author

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TIM HAYES attended The University of Vermont and holds a B.S. Degree in Psychology. Before his career as a horseman, Hayes had a long career in Film and Television. He has worked as a cowboy for the Joseph Black & Son Cattle Ranch of Bruneau, Idaho and as a riding instructor at Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk, NY. It was there that he began teaching Natural Horsemanship, the approach often called, "Horse Whispering." For the past fifteen years, Hayes has been a nationally recognized Natural Horsemanship Clinician. He teaches and conducts clinics throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. He is also a visiting instructor of Natural Horsemanship in the Department of Animal Science for both The University of Connecticut and The University of Vermont. He has appeared in the 2006 award winning Cablevision’s TV Documentary "Natural Horsemanship with Tim Hayes" and has been profiled in numerous other media outlets, including The New York Times.

Praise For…

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“Tim Hayes is a great storyteller, blessed with passion for his subjects, horse and human. The lessons you’ll take away from this beautiful volume of healing and love between man and nature will stay with you for a long time.” —From the Foreword by Robert Redford

“Riding Home is essential reading for horse lovers and everyone who works with people who need healing.” —Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human

“Hayes makes a convincing case that his beloved equine companions are man’s best friends. Hayes will turn even non–horse lovers into equine-therapy believers.” —Booklist

“Hayes’s obvious love for all things equine is evident throughout . . . An educational analysis of the bonds between horses and humans.” —Kirkus Reviews